[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 65 (Monday, April 15, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E469]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING APRIL BLANKENSHIP

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. KEVIN BRADY

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 15, 2019

  Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the life of April 
Blankenship, a longtime and outstanding staffer for the Committee on 
Ways and Means and my personal office, who passed away this morning.
  April is a tireless, trusted colleague and a friend to so many. In 
her many years of service on Capitol Hill, she has been a key part of 
dozens of personal and committee offices, including both my personal 
office and the staff of the Committee on Ways and Means. She handled 
issues that involve sensitive personnel matters with grace, precision, 
confidentiality, and a deft personal touch. She dealt with numbers, but 
really what she managed was people--the people and committees that help 
run this place on behalf of taxpayers. And she did it all with a smile 
on her face and a joy for service. April is one of the true unsung 
heroes around these halls, and I am proud to call her a trusted 
colleague and friend.
  Beyond her many professional skills and accomplishments, I know April 
is even more proud of her role as a mother. Whether helping her sons, 
Hunter, Dakota, and Tucker, sell Boy Scout candy to friends and 
colleagues or bragging on the boys' achievements in school or church 
groups, her smile told you all you needed to know--that she was an 
intensely proud mother, and rightfully so. She also invested her deep 
faith in her family, and I know that faith has helped maintain her 
through the years she has heroically battled her illness.
  On behalf of the entire Committee on Ways and Means, I offer our 
sincerest condolences to Tim, Hunter, Dakota, Tucker and her entire 
family on April's passing. I thank them for sharing April with us for 
so many years of outstanding service to the Committee, its Members, and 
our great country.

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